A group of local residents have voted to recommend that the City of Minneapolis halt plans to expand Calhoun Square with a one-story, retail-only building.

Calhoun Area Residents Action Group (CARAG) last week voted at its monthly meeting against Calhoun Square's proposal to build a one-story building that would house a CB2 store-a furniture and accessory store operated by Crate and Barrel.

According to CARAG Executive Coordinator Scott Engel, his group opposes the one-story building because of the fact that it was designated as a retail-only building. The group instead favors a mixed-use structure for the site, like the one that the City of Minneapolis approved in 2008. It included five stories with a combination of retail and residential space.

Engel said that residents are welcoming and supportive of businesses coming to the area, but that the development needs to be “much higher density.”

He said the proposed one-story building does not follow guidelines put in place two years ago in the city's Uptown Small Area Plan, which discourages the development of one-story, single-use buildings. The plan recommended that Calhoun Square introduce housing units and offices onto the property, in addition to retail and restaurants.

CARAG did approve other requests regarding the new Calhoun Square development, including a landscaping plan, additional signage, and a change in the number of entrances for the development.

Monday afternoon phone calls to Calhoun Square representatives were not immediately returned. The center is managed by Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle.

CARAG is non-profit neighborhood organization that has a nine-member volunteer board of directors that's responsible for managing the organization and conducting the business of the neighborhood.